PHNOM PENH: Prime Minister Hun Sen suggested at the opening ceremony of the 41st General Assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) held at the Sokha Hotel in Phnom Penh on Tuesday morning, 4 October, that countries in Southeast Asia should take a look at why their level in sports is still weak.

The Prime Minister noted his observation that few countries in Asia seem to participate in World Cup qualifiers. He said that he hopes at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar in December 2022, there will be Asian countries who also win games.

In this line, the Prime Minister raised the question of why countries in Asia with large populations often seem to have weaker athletes than those from Europe and Latin America.

"This is something we should study at this meeting," he said. "[Countries that have high populations] does not mean that they will have strong athletes, but [having fewer athletes] also does not mean that they are weak.”

The Prime Minister acknowledged that athletes in Southeast Asia are quite weak in comparison to the rest of the world, however, he said that they must not also be weak in terms of sporting ethics. In this sense, the Prime Minister said that he does not want to see things like violence and stampedes at sporting events, such as the incident that happened in Indonesia a few days ago that caused the loss of hundreds of lives.

"It is necessary to strengthen the ethics of competition. It is not just about winning, violating the conditions of the game and using violence," he said.

The Prime Minister requested the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia and the National Organizing Committee of the 2023 SEA Games and ASEAN Para Games to jointly increase technical cooperation and experience with the Olympic Council of Asia, the National Olympic Committees of member countries, the Southeast Asian Sports Federation, the ASEAN Para Sports Federation Council, and other international sports institutions.

On Saturday, 1 October 2022, at the Kanjuruhan Stadium in East Java, Indonesia, a stampede occurred after a clash between football fans and the police, which left 125 people dead. The incident shocked the world, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino called it "a dark day for those involved in football and a tragedy beyond comprehension."